Captain's Meeting

'Teacher Unohana, do you hear what you are saying?'

'How could I possibly be similar to Sosuke Aizen? I am a good person.'

Akira immediately reassured himself a dozen times that he was a good person, then showed the smile of a pure-hearted young man. Looking somewhat embarrassed, he said, "Teacher, how could I compare to Lieutenant Aizen? Even if you want me to build confidence, that is far too exaggerated."

Retsu Unohana's beautiful eyes rested on him. She seemed entirely certain of her judgment.

"No. There are indeed some similar points. However, there is one very obvious difference between you and Lieutenant Aizen."

Akira asked in surprise, "What is it?"

Unohana's lips parted slightly.

"Loneliness. The kind of loneliness that sometimes seems out of place with the world."

Akira froze.

Loneliness?

As if something deep inside him had been struck, even his smile became strained. A powerful sense of loneliness suddenly emanated from him.

A flicker of pity passed through Unohana's eyes. Yet she did not continue asking. Instead, she stood and left the courtyard to attend the monthly captain's meeting.

For an individual, loneliness was the one curse that could never be truly escaped.

One arrived in the world alone, and in the end, one would leave it alone.

Between those two lonelinesses, everyone was a lost soul wandering in confusion.

For long-lived Shinigami especially, that loneliness was stretched countless times by time itself. It required a great many differences or similarities to fill it, soothe it, or smooth it down.

Once, the choice Retsu Unohana had made to fight that loneliness was slaughter. In endless slaughter, she felt her true self, then became utterly obsessed with using that killing to replace loneliness.

Now, in Unohana's view, Akira had not yet found his way to truly integrate into this world or soothe that loneliness.

Although the loneliness he revealed sometimes seemed a little too strong, as his teacher, Unohana chose the gentleness of not disturbing him.

After she had left for a while, Akira let out a soft breath and slowly adjusted himself back to normal.

Loneliness.

He had not expected Teacher Unohana's observation to be so meticulous. Or had he simply revealed it without realizing?

Akira thought in silence, unconsciously pressing his lips together.

He understood where his loneliness came from. It came from having no peers. No true peers in the deepest sense.

The memories he retained from his previous life made him understand that, in a certain sense, he was an outsider in this world.

In truth, however, Akira did not care too much about that. Time would smooth away everything. Being sentimental was not his nature.

On the contrary, he found himself smiling and looking forward to his future in the gynecology department.

With an authority like Retsu Unohana praising him, patients who sought his consultations would likely begin appearing little by little. In other words, after more than two quiet months, he could finally find chances to start planting again.

As for how to create small bleeding wounds on patients, Akira already had a plan.

Needles.

Of course, he meant acupuncture. Sick or not, he could give them a free needle first.

The thought that his Forest Seeds would soon take root and sprout throughout Seireitei put Akira in an excellent mood. The loneliness inside him immediately scattered.

'Sure enough, I have been lonely and depressed these past few months. Maybe it was because I could not plant seeds and my reiryoku growth was stuck for too long...'

'One needle, one seed. What loneliness could remain?'

'Other than happiness, no emotion at all.'

Akira murmured to himself. After quickly finishing breakfast, he hurried toward the gynecology department, ready to welcome a brand-new day.

On the other side, because today was Seireitei's monthly captain's meeting, the Division captains and their lieutenants had already gathered early at the First Division.

As the First Division's doors slowly closed, it signaled that the meeting, second in authority only to Central 46 and capable of influencing the direction of all Soul Society with a single decision, was about to begin.

Inside the wide, solemn meeting room, captain-class Shinigami wearing different captain haori stood facing one another in two lines. Different Division numbers were written on the backs of their white coats.

Twelve different figures stood in that room. Almost every one of them faintly emitted a terrifying reiatsu ordinary Shinigami would find difficult to endure.

Finally, as the ancient meeting bell sounded outside the room and announced the beginning of the meeting, the elderly man standing at the head opened his half-lidded eyes.

There was a fierce cross-shaped scar on the right side of his head. A purple sash was bound across his chest. His long silver-white beard fell to his waist, and the white captain's haori draped simply over his shoulders bore the character for First Division, making him look every bit as dignified and imposing as he was.

Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto swept his gaze over the eleven captains before him.

Aside from the position of Tenth Division captain, which remained vacant, all the other captains had arrived. Only then did he slowly speak.

"Captains, this meeting is now in session..."

Nearby, in the lieutenants' waiting room, the terrifying reiatsu faintly leaking from the adjacent meeting room finally settled. Only then did the lieutenants who had followed their captains to the meeting gradually relax.

"That was terrifying. As expected of the captain-commander and the captains. Even the reiatsu they leak unconsciously through a word or movement makes me feel awe."

Mashiro Kuna, lieutenant of the Ninth Division, had short, wavy green hair and wore a red scarf. Looking quite lively, she patted her chest and let out a long breath as she murmured.

Chikane Iba, the tall and imposing lieutenant of the Third Division, nodded with reverence. Her build carried a certain underworld air.

"Of course. That is the captain-commander. He is on a completely different level from ordinary Shinigami. Even if we wanted to attend the meeting, I doubt we could remain standing in front of his doors."

However, Yachiru Kusajishi, who was accompanying her captain as a lieutenant for the first time, smacked her lips and could not help shouting, "Hey, heeey... this is so boring. How long do I have to stay here?"

Chojiro Sasakibe, lieutenant of the First Division, had eye-catching short white hair combed back and a black mustache. In a rigid, precise tone, he said, "Please be quiet, Lieutenant of the Eleventh Division. The meeting length is determined by the matters that must be discussed. As lieutenants bearing our duties, we need only wait patiently here for our captains' instructions and provide the corresponding support."

However, after Sasakibe finished speaking on instinct and looked at the small pink-haired girl in front of him, whose wide eyes blinked in innocent confusion, his rigid expression nearly cracked.

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